Monday, 28 January 2008

The key to any successful campaign is to clearly identify your objectives before starting.

MessageTarget PopulationConceptDelivery StrategyROI

Below is a summary of two approaches to Social Network Marketing that were used in a recent campaign for G.O.D. founded by the style gurus Douglas Young and Ben Lau; one of the most recognised brands in Asia.

Heavy weight Leo Burnett and new kid on the block, Prosperity Research Ltd. used different approaches to achieve success for the client. Below is a summary of how this played out.

Pitch – Effectively use online or Social Network Marketing to increase visibility of Delay No Mall a new concept mall opening in Hong Kong.

The Top Down Approach

Approach – Leo Burnett conceived a highly stylised series of videos that were placed in a limited number of the internet sites (youtube). They then used their significant industry presence to drive buzz through mostly industry related online publications.

Outcome – Decent amount of views, high industry recognition and good WOW factor. But unclear on how this targeted the important demographic – customers that have access to the retail outlets. This approach of getting high level industry acknowledgement has significant value in securing G.O.D. international recognition. However, by directing the campaign toward industry and insiders, the benefit to the average customer is less clear. Additionally, this appears to be a one off campaign so the opportunity to build an audience maybe lost, meaning that money spent on this campaign did not add to the equity. Many of this campaigns attributes appear better suited for a print campaign rather than Social Network Marketing.

The Bottom Up Approach

Approach -- Prosperity Research Ltd. conceived a series of 3 videos examining different stages of the development of Delay NO Mall. Key personalities, fun and music were integrated into the videos to gain a wide fan appeal. Without having industry leverage, Prosperity Research Ltd. did it the old fashion way – hard work. After identifying key sites that were demographically rich information was seeded. This was in the form of still images, news releases, and the 3 videos. The process was:

ResearchBuild buzzRelease videoInteract with viewersRepeat for next 2 videos

The effect of this process is profound. Instead of creating a sliver of interest in an infinite amount content choice, we started to build an audience. By interacting with the key demographic in an ongoing and natural manner; we built expectation of what was to come. The fan base continues to grow because we are spending the time to nurture the relationship with the customer. By building the audience we create greater value.

Points of difference

Leo Burnett –

Brilliant concept and well placedGlaring absence on search enginesSeen in online industry magazines limited access to key demographicShort term strategy that you would tend to see in print campaignsHigh WOW factorEntrance into the big league

Prosperity Research Ltd.

Scaled down concept (no budget!)Captured front pages on all major search engines (English and Chinese) for 3 weeks runningSeen more (by count) by customersFully utilised the democratic space on the internet to build a bottom up campaign – people firstLong term strategy in place to build the fan baseEffective honest solution that deliveredAdded value by creating equity in the campaign – investment in your customers and brand should continue to create benefits long after the campaign is done

In summary there are two very succesful campaigns that took distinctly different approaches and arguably had different goals.

Friday, 18 January 2008

The latest hoopla about the United States political elections has raised my eyebrows. Not so much because I am an American and this stands to be an election of greater historical significance than most -- first African American or woman president -- but because so many of my non-American friends, here in Hong Kong, are fascinated by it. Like a soap opera on crack it has a ferocious grip on their attention. I am curious where and how they get this constant fodder that feeds their rabid speculation. Surprise! -- Social network sites on the internet.

Social Network sites and news aggregators, bookmarks and feeds have all made the gossip mill a powerful machine. It is long past the days of exchanging gossip over the back fence. Now legions of pundits can rapidly access, summarise and trivialise immense amounts of data and send it to all of their friends with an emoticon and embedded video in the blink of an eye.

I find this amazing in many ways. I have a degree in statistics and though I have always been terrible with numbers, I have found the pollsters an amusing past time. Historically they have sent out questionnaires or conducted phone interviews of a “representative sample” to get the real dope. This all made sense when people more or less received the same news feeds, either through the newspaper or evening news. However with the internet everyone can, and does, receive an individually select feed of information. Uniformity of content delivery is not there. How do people make decisions now, how is opinion influenced? The puzzle has become much more complex – this is so fun!

Friday, 11 January 2008

Run, run, run as fast as you can in the direction of online video. Video becoming the dominant means of communication is clearly articulated through both ad revenue and behaviour. There are many motivations why persons are shifting to digital for their primary sources of information and entertainment:

1. Convenience -- mobile everywhere2. Green -- read once and toss magazines and papers now come with a guilt factor3. Current -- Digital gives you the "right now". Anything on paper is guarnteed to old news4. Interaction and sharing -- If you see something cool then send it on. You can't do that with a newspaper5. Individual -- in the digital world you can see what you want and disregard the rest -- print media is made to appeal to the widest range of taste. Whereas digital is served up the the audience of one.6. Culture and Languge -- Video or showing someone overcomes many cultural and language barriers that print can not address.7. Emotion -- Site, sound and moving images can convey powerful messages with great economy.

Prosperity Research, Asia's most innovative online marketing company gets this. We have been on the fore front of placing quality video that people want to see in places they like to go. www.Prosperity-Research.com

Monday, 7 January 2008

And away they go!!!! Businesses are becoming savvier and demanding proven ROI on their ad spend. To do this they are gaining and increasing appreciation of online marketing where there is a clearer link between and buys. They are proving this with the lion share of their budgets.

However, as businesses become more sophisticated so are consumers. The audience of one and the long tail reign supreme. They call it behavioural targeting but it is little more than appreciating the fact that consumers can be particular and the old days of blatant, in your face advertising has declining value.

As consumers become spoiled for choice and overburdened with content they will increasingly filter based on specific interests. Each person will in a sense become part of the long tail. Prosperity Research has built a business model around this very natural and organic approach of personal selection. Put your self where you customers are likely to be.

This article highlighted pretty much all that is disapointing with many Social Network Marketing strategies. This unbridled foolishness to get high hits at any cost. Consumers value their time, resent being tricked (we all do -- that is why they call it spam) and a brand is your most important possession. So when you embrace a reckless approach to online marketing that includes damaging your brand identity, deception to your customers and general lack of integrity the short term might be a bit fun, but the long term is more disapointing. Wuse a story of the drunk at the party who ends up with the lampshade on their head. Maybe for a couple of hours they are the life of the party, but the next day in the office they are the laughing stock. Managing your brand online is similar. Would you rather build up a strong relationship with loyal customers based on an honest approach or create an illusion of success that will quickly dissapate with the next viral video? At Prosperity Research we have identified an approach that uses the same approach that all of us use in everyday life -- building friendships.

1. Put yourself out there where people you want to meet hang out2. Go more than half way to meet people3. Be more interested in them than yourself4. Follow up5. Offer something new to the mix on each encounter -- share6. Invite them into your life

The simplest lessons we learned at the ealiest age are often the best. Life only becomes complicated when you invite a consultant to join.

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About us

Douglas White founded PRDA in 2004 and has been a pioneer in Asia for social media since. Based in Hong Kong, PRDA is uniquely positioned to launch and manage social media strategies across Asia. Our expertise lies in understanding online consumer behaviour, complex social media terrain and role of language and culture. www.PRDA.Asia